Press Release
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MONTREAL (Oct. 31, 2002) -- Softimage Co. today announced the availability of version 3.0 of its SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, the industry's leading 3-D nonlinear production environment.
The fourth major release of SOFTIMAGE|XSI expands upon the rich, productive environment already used in recent hit films such as 'Spy Kids II', 'Scooby Doo' and 'Spirited Away'; current television series including 'Galidor' and 'Napoleon'; games like 'Clone Wars', the upcoming 'NBA Live 2003' and 'FIFA Soccer 2003', as well as popular TV spots for Audi, Volkswagen and Mars/M&Ms. During extensive beta testing, the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software has received accolades worldwide for performance, workflow and feature innovations spanning its complete range of integrated modeling, animation, simulation, rendering and compositing toolsets in addition to the software's overall stability. Consequentially, many companies have already used the SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 environment extensively in production, including leading French post-production facility la maison, and the Oscar(R) award winning special effects company, The Mill. [an error occurred while processing this directive] la maison, a leading post-production house in St. Cloud, France, recently completed a commercial for Time Warner entitled 'Pigs' for the agency SSBK in New York, using the beta version of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 software. One of the challenges of the spot was to quickly produce photo-realistic CG pigs with hair. Luc Froehlicher, head of CG at la maison, comments on the software: "The production was really tight as we had to create over 70 pigs in 48 shots. Fortunately, the hair feature in version 3.0 worked wonderfully, and the new shaders were spectacular."
Mill TV, part of The Mill, was established in September 2001 specifically to bring high-value, high-quality visual effects to long-format television projects, also used the SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 software in the production of the BBC One program 'Pyramid'. Jordi Bares, senior 3-D animator at The Mill comments; "Having used the beta version in full production, the SOFTIMAGE|XSI environment has become key to our day-to-day work. We have seen our productivity and quality increase at The Mill with every new release of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software. With its new particle and character tools, revamped Animation Mixer, powerful polygonal modelling environment and superb integration with mental ray(R), this new version establishes itself as a real top-class toolset."
"The combination of a more experienced industry and a challenging economy has shifted the industry's focus from check-box feature releases and cheap software to comprehensive integrated environments like the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software which enables companies to be more artistically and financially competitive," says Michael Stojda, Softimage's managing director. "With version 3.0, the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software has once again set a new benchmark in the industry for creative power and productivity. By converting to the new release of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, users can gain a competitive advantage and realize a superior return on investment through the ability to produce richer and more visually sophisticated results in less time."
Driven by the requirements of the world's most advanced and demanding film, game and broadcast production pipelines, this latest version of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software offers artists and developers across all industries the ability to work interactively with significantly larger data sets. The optimization of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI environment offers the flexibility to work with many complex characters and in larger numbers, more static scene elements of greater detail, and more effects of greater complexity.
"The SOFTIMAGE|XSI environment's strength lies in its versatile and efficient texturing, modeling, and animation tools," comments Carey Chico, co-founder of Pandemic Studios, and art director of games titles such as 'Battlezone 2' and 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'. "SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 gives us a highly integrated set of tools that produce better results faster than other systems. For example, using Subdivision Surfaces in SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 means easy and fast transitions from low to high-resolution models."
The SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 environment also introduces powerful new features and toolsets for expanded creativity, increased efficiency and accelerated productivity across the full range of production workflows, including:
-- New XSI Explorer & Object View: To visualize and focus on a specific part of a scene.
-- Enhanced Subdivision Surfaces.
-- Multiple-resolution reference models: Allow users to flip among several versions. All changes made are propagated automatically to the other models.
-- Next-generation Animation Mixer: Rebuilt from the ground up, it includes enhancements like "ghosting", which lets users see both animation clips simultaneously to get the correct blend.
-- Character Designer and New Character Rigging Tools: Get > Primitive > Man > Make Him Move.
-- Enhancements to hair simulation: Now includes deformations that can be animated, hair from curves, styles that can be copied, and additional rendering options.
-- New world-class Particle System: Completely integrated with the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software and mental ray and now available to users of SOFTIMAGE|XSI Essentials as well as SOFTIMAGE|XSI Advanced.
-- New Light rig tools for working with HDR images.
-- Interactive Rendering with unmatched access to mental ray v.3.1 features: Includes geometry shaders, sub-pixel displacements, HDR support, and new motion blur mode.
-- Integrated Compositor: Now includes animatable rotosplines, Cineon support, and an RGB, HSV and Luminance keyer.
-- Cloth: Now standard with SOFTIMAGE|XSI Advanced.
-- Expanded DirectX and Nvidia Cg Real-Time Shader support:
Powerful tool for Xbox games development.
-- dotXSI(TM) v3.6 including support for RTS and FX Tree nodes:
More enhancements to Softimage's open and flexible scene data file format.
-- C++ API SDK: This API shares similar object model representation as scripting and ActiveX API's.
Availability and Pricing
The SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 environment, which supports Windows, Linux and IRIX operating systems, is available today with pricing starting at $6,750*. For a limited time, until December 22, 2002, existing SOFTIMAGE|XSI customers can upgrade to version 3.0 of SOFTIMAGE|XSI for as little as $1,395* and SOFTIMAGE|3D customers can trade-up to the SOFTIMAGE|XSI environment starting at $3,500*. Additionally, until December 22, 2002, Softimage is offering attractive trade-in credits for old 3-D software towards the purchase of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI environment. By trading-in one of the following software packages, Alias|Wavefront Maya Builder, Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited, discreet 3ds max, NewTek Lightwave, Side Effects Houdini, companies can save up to $6,500* off the price of the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, the industry's leading 3-D nonlinear production environment: Visit Softimage at www.softimage.com or call 1-800-576-3846 for more information on SOFTIMAGE|XSI software and other Softimage products, as well as all current promotions.
*All priced quoted are USMSRP quoted in U.S. dollars. International pricing may vary.
About Softimage Co.
Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc., is an industry leader in 3-D animation, 2-D cel animation, compositing and special effects software, designed to address the demands of the film and commercial/broadcast and games/interactive industries. The SOFTIMAGE|XSI software, an integral player in Avid's Make, Manage and Move Media(TM) strategy, is the flagship product offering from Softimage. It is the industry's first 3-D nonlinear production environment providing animators and digital artists the freedom to make professional animation, visual effects and games - from major motion pictures, to cartoons and commercials, to animated content for video games and Web sites. Softimage is proud to count amongst its customers: ILM, R!OT, Valve, Capcom, Electronic Arts, The Mill, Pixel Liberation Front, Blue Sky Studios, Hybride, Mainframe, Janimation, Quiet Man, PSYOP, Cinepix and Framestore. The Softimage product family is designed to help users innovate, create and collaborate throughout the production process. For more information about Softimage visit www.softimage.com. For more information about Avid visit www.avid.com.
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